Chapter 26: Water

The trading interface no longer featured as many pleas for water, replaced by urgent demands for food, rain gear, umbrellas, and thatched-house blueprints or materials.

Others asked for cigarettes or alcohol to stave off the cold, while a few bizarre users offered exorbitant prices for female companionship or inflatable dolls. One had even sealed a deal, unbelievably.

He was about to leave the interface when one entry caught his eye:

Arrears4999: "Selling D-rank Ice Armor, want 500g of E-rank or D-rank beast meat x169."

Logan was tempted. Unfortunately, he lacked F-rank meat and had only about twenty catties of E-rank Dragon Armor Beast Meat left—barely enough to last three days at his current appetite. He needed that food to recover, so he reluctantly passed on the Ice Armor.

Closing the stone pillar screen, he returned to his thatched house to inventory his possessions. Apart from an iron pot and pan, a blanket, and the four-piece bed set plus his crafting table, he still had a bunch of items. He grouped them as follows:

Long-term Items

[Breeze Sword x1], [xxL Couple's Coat x1], [Soap x3], [Toiletries x1], [Lighter x1], [Toilet Paper x1], [Gloves x1], [Winter Down Jacket x3], [Winter Down Jacket x3], [Mai x2], [Glass x2], [Salt x1], …

Consumables

[Azure Essence Bead x1], [Amber Essence Beads x3], [F-rank Detox Essence Blood x1], [Bronze Key x4], [Diamond Block x6], [Flour x3 (1000g each)], [Watermelon x1], [Liquor x2], [Grade B Soil x1], [Grade D Soil x1], [E-rank Dragon Armor Beast Meat x16], [Tiger Meat x187], [Rabbit x3], [Sparrow x6], [Apple x146], [Pear x87], …

Materials

[Fang x156], [Plank x237], [Floating Stone x9896], [Refined Iron x164], [Saltpeter x3], [Feather x6], [Universal Metal Sheet x787], [Stone x91], [Wind Stone x2], [Enchantment Stone x5], plus the Eight-Series Spirit Stones for Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth (various quantities), [F-rank Dragonmon Carapace x1], [E-rank Dragonmon Inner Pill x1], [E-rank Dragonshell Essence Blood x1], [E-rank Dragonshell Pupils x2], [E-rank Dragonbeast Normal Demon Blood x21], …

Odds and Ends

[Pearl x3], [Lifebuoy x1], [Small Refrigerator x1], plus a remote-control toy airplane and a handheld game console, as well as the Encyclopedia of Basic Marine Biology of the Advanced World of Civilization.

Finally, there were blueprints.

[ Highest-level to lowest ]

S-rank Incomplete Water Purifier Drawing x1

B-rank Fire Bomb Drawing x1

B-rank Xuanming Knife Drawing x1

D-rank Bow & Arrow Drawing x1

D-rank Sock Drawing x8

D-rank Boiler Drawing x1

D-rank Glasses Drawing x3

D-rank Hairpin Drawing x1

D-rank Large Bath Bucket Drawing x3

… and more.

After listing everything, Logan noted which items could be used or crafted right away, especially ordinary furniture that didn't require special drawings.

He couldn't make the S-rank purifier yet, but he did have a simpler water purifier blueprint he could try.

His plan: use gathered stones to build a flowerbed-like ring. In it, he'd place his higher-grade soil for planting.

The trouble was, he had only four seeds—two were normal: one a potato seed (gained via trade) and a pepper seed, plus green vine seeds and watermelon seeds. Beyond that, he'd have to rely on further trades or luck to expand his garden.

Logan Lane had no idea what this "green vine seed" might be. He'd never heard of it—could it be just an ornamental vine? If so, it would be of limited use.

It took him half an hour to use almost all his remaining stones to stack an irregular circle of about 120 square meters in area. He didn't exactly have handyman skills, so the result looked rough.

He then took out the D-grade soil, placed it in the makeshift flowerbed, and tapped use. Over thirty seconds, the clods expanded rapidly, filling the 120-square-meter bed.

A brief description appeared in his view:

"D-grade Soil: You can plant seeds at or below C-grade. The higher the seed grade, the more fertility is consumed. Once fertility drops to zero, this soil turns into normal soil. Current grade: D, fertility 100%."

Looking up at the rain, he noticed the soil didn't turn muddy like normal dirt, confirming it wasn't ordinary. Logan first took a watermelon seed and buried it. A message popped up:

"Common Watermelon Seed – countdown to maturity: 23:59:59. Uses 1/10,000 of D-grade soil's fertility."

He went on to plant peppers, potatoes, and green vine seeds. The messages read:

"Potato – countdown to maturity: 23:59:59."

"Pepper – countdown to maturity: 11:59:59."

"Green Vine – countdown to maturity: 71:59:59."

He was startled the green vine seed needed three full days to mature. Shrugging, he decided to plant all four seeds anyway.

He noted it consumed a full 1% of the soil's fertility—equal to one hundred watermelon seeds.

Finished with planting, Logan set out to build a basic water purifier using an ordinary blueprint. It was pretty easy to craft.

Trading three or four apples and pears for some non-graded materials, he pieced the purifier together.

Trying it out in the downpour, he discovered it produced about 2 liters of purified water per hour, or up to 48 liters a day.

That was more than enough for him. Were it not for the threat of monstrous beasts, natural disasters, and other dangers, he could've retired on his island in moderate comfort.